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Chapter Twenty

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Ashley scowled at her. "...Truth or Dare? What are you, like, six?"

"If you don't like it, don't play," Nicole sharply retorted. "Don't worry, honey. I won't beg you to."

Ashley and Nicole glared irritably at each other again. The tension between them was so palpable that even the normally unconcerned Kyla was beginning to notice it. They hadn't said more than a few words to each other all night. When things went quiet for a moment Carmen acquired a slice of pizza and sat down, saying;

"It might not be the worst way to pass the time."

Aiden exhaled. "I'm in. There's jack-all else we can do, anyway."

Naturally since Carmen and Aiden were doing it, Kyla would too. That left only Ashley and Spencer. They glanced at each other, then Spencer saw Ashley roll her eyes and mutter a brief `fine' in acquiescence. Which of course left Spencer as the last one to opt for it. But she didn't feel strongly either way about it so she gave everyone a brief nod of agreement, so as not to be the odd one out. So that was what they decided to do. Nicole went and grabbed an empty glass bottle from the recycling bin the Quinn's had in their kitchen then called everyone to sit down on the floor in a small circle.

"We all know the rules, right?" Nicole said, glancing about the circle. "We take it in turns to spin the bottle and whoever it points at, they have to answer any question or do any dare, and if you can't, you're out."

"What does the winner get?" Kyla asked.

Nicole paused to think about it. "Uh, I dunno... uh... lets just... wait, we all must have five bucks on us at least, right?"

They all nodded, their faces partially illuminated by candlelight.

"Okay then. We'll all chip in five bucks. Since there's... six of us; that gives the winner thirty dollars. See? We're playing for money, doesn't that age it up a bit?"

Carmen tugged one of her loose, habitually heavy bangs from her eyes. "Who goes first?"

"Well since it was my idea, I'll go first." Nicole set the bottle in the center of their circle and spun it. Everyone's eyes were on its continual revolutions until it slowed down, bit by bit, into an eventual stop. This left it pointed in Aiden's direction. Nicole and Aiden exchanged challenging smiles with one and other as Carmen hooted him on.

Nicole flushed a little. "Alright. Truth or Dare?"

"...Truth."

"You're a chicken, Aiden." Commented Kyla, at which both Carmen and Ashley chuckled.

He fobbed the three of them off so his focus could remain on Nicole. She didn't take long to come up with a Truth for him to answer though. The brunette pulled some of her hair back, which even in this poorly illuminated space, showed off the calculation (and, admittedly, nervousness) in her thoughts.

"Who's the prettiest girl in the room to you?"

They locked eyes. Carmen, presently getting into the mood of things, crooned a playfully ominous `ooohhh!`, like a member of the audience on the Jerry Springer show. Ashley on the other hand pulled a disbelieving `can you believe this airhead?' smirk and murmured "that was subtle", under her breath with soft sarcasm. Spencer nudged her in the arm to silence her. Aiden smiled at the circumstance (partially because he'd gotten off easy with that one) but he felt playful. Why not give an obvious answer some theatrics?

"Well, let me think," he pretended to ponder the question as he looked about the circle. "...Kyla's my sister so I'm not even gonna go there. Now Carmen's cute, she's got that whole jock thing going on, but... I've been mad at her since she royally kicked my ass at pool in the mall arcade."

"That was six months ago." Said the goalkeeper.

"Yeah it was, and I still haven't forgiven you for it, which knocks like... six points off your sex-gauge."

Laughing now, Carmen reached behind her back to the sofa and threw one of its pillows at him. He ducked his head to one side and let it whiz past him. "Okay, I'm done with Carmen. Then there's Spencer, who's also very pretty but we only just met so... she probably doesn't want me thinking that way about her."

The shy blonde in question blushed, not saying anything, just brandishing a small smile. He was nice enough not to say anything lewd or cajoling about her. After her came Ashley to whom Aiden's attentions turned. "And Ashley of course. And yeah, she's smokin' hot and everything, but she's always wearing those damn leather jackets, the ones that make her look like a biker. No offence."

She flipped him off with a grin. "None taken."

"Then," he said, turning to the orator of the question. "I have you. You've got all that... amazing brown hair that just... looks even better on you in candlelight. Then there's your little nose... and your freckles... and you've got the prettiest eyes... ever. I love that green color. And... God knows you've got an ass like there's no tomorrow!"

Everyone, even Kyla, smiled at that.

He continued. "So, you wanna know who I think is the prettiest girl here? I think it's you."

"...Aiden..." Whispered Nicole, thoroughly touched.

"Alright, alright..." Carmen said. "Let Kyla have her turn before the two of you start sexing each other up."

Kyla, who was sitting next to Nicole, took her hand to the bottle, spun it, and it whizzed around accordingly, around and around and around again, until it ceased in motion. Its neck was pointed at Ashley. Kyla and Ashley now became the focal point, and Carmen, Nicole, Aiden and (somewhat less enthusiastically) Spencer, egged them on. The Davies girl didn't show the slightest bit of fear.

"Truth or Dare?" Kyla asked.

Ashley plucked her bangs. "...Dare."

"You know... thirty bucks is a lot of money." Kyla said to her.

"Yup."

"My folks are well off but they don't give us allowances. We have to earn it."

Ashley arched her eyebrows, provocatively. "Yeah, that sounds like a real slap on the ass. Get on with it."

"Okay. There's a half a bottle of ketchup left in our fridge. Drink it."

Carmen, Aiden and Nicole made that silly `ooohhh!' sound to jokingly `amp up' the tension, while a less amused Spencer balked. "Kyla...!"

"What?"

"I can't believe you guys," Spencer turned to her. "Ashley, you'll get sick, don't do it."

"Hey, I'm not backing down. I want that thirty bucks too and it's not like its my carpet that's gonna get stained if I throw up. Lemme at it. Give me one of the flashlights and I`ll go get it."

Spencer was incredulous. How stupid could she be to do something like that for a game? But crazy as it was Ashley was serious in her convictions. Aiden handed her one of the flashlights. She turned it on and peeled her way out of the lounge into the darkness of the corridor. When she returned a minute or so later she had the offending ketchup bottle in her other hand. It wasn't quite as big as say, Nicole, might have hoped, but it wasn't small either. Spencer was still in disbelief as Ashley switched off the flashlight and sat down.

"Don't do it, Ashley." Spencer warned.

Aiden snickered. "Come on, Spencer. Get into it. You might end up having fun."

"How is this fun?"

Nicole's smirk said otherwise. "it's fun for me."

"She's not going to do it," Kyla said, looking at her. "...Right...?"

Ashley said nothing. Rather she opened her mouth, moved the plastic bottle skyward, and squirted. Everyone among them winced in revulsion as a stream of the pulpy red condiment oozed out of the bottle and into her mouth. She squeezed and squeezed until the bottle made that squeaking `suction' sound declaring that it was empty. Ashley tipped her head forward then, and a lump travelled down her throat as she swallowed it all.

Everyone was staggered.

Carmen blinked. "That was so... gross...!"

"I said I don't back down..." Ashley winced. "...At least it wasn't mustard..."

Next up was Aiden. His toned hand reached into the center of their circle and spun the bottle just as the others did. It rotated under fate's discretion until it slowed into stillness and landed in Kyla's direction. The two adopted siblings stared at each other while the others goaded them on (well, all except Spencer).

Aiden's grin was implacable. "What did you call me before? A chicken? Truth or Dare?"

"Yeah. I stand by it. Dare."

"Okay, sis. I got your chicken." He stood upright then, walking over to his tall case of CDs, the one Ashley and Carmen had been looking through earlier, and brought his flashlight's glare to it. Subsequent to a few moments of search Aiden found the one he seemed to be looking for, as well as an old CD player and earphones on top of the stand. When he came back to the circle he slid the player and the disk (which happened to be Jay-Z's American Gangster album) over the floor to Kyla's crossed legs.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"I dare you to sing and dance to one whole rap song -- that I get to pick."

Kyla frowned and Carmen put her hand over her face, while Spencer, Ashley and Nicole looked at each other, not quite seeing why that was so bad of a challenge.

Ashley most of all. "What's the big deal?"

"Heh, heh, heh. You haven't heard my sister rap," he smiled at his sibling. "How about it?"

She sneered at him. "You are such a jerk."

"Look Ky, you don't have to do it. You could back out, but... you wouldn't do that. You're not a chicken, right? So what's it going to be?"

"...Fine. I'll do it."

Carmen blinked. "Kyla, you're not honestly gonna-"

"I can do it," she stated stubbornly. "Gimme this damn CD. Which song is it?"

"Number six, Roc Boys." he said.

Kyla grumpily hung the player off her skirt and fixed its earphones into her ears. Then she put the disk inside it and slipped the booklet out of its plastic case. She flicked through its pages until she got to the lyrics of the Roc Boys song. Her finger tapped the play button, then rapidly tapped fast forward until it hit number six.

While Aiden smirked darn near devilishly; Ashley, Nicole and most of all Carmen, were aghast when Kyla weakly ambled from side to side and nervously creaked out: "...S-speech! First of all I wanna... thank my connect... the most important person with all... due respect... thanks to the duffel bag... the brown paper bag... the Nike shoe box... for holding all this cash... boys in blue who put greed before the badge... the first Bush whoever made the s-stash..."

Oh. My. God. Ashley wanted to bite her lip off it was so embarrassing. Spencer, who by all accounts didn't know her Jay-Zs from her Ghostface Killahs, saw only an amicable attempt on Kyla's part as she journeyed into a small preview of the chorus, "The Roc boy's in the building tonight...! Oh what a feeling I`m feeling life... thanks to the lames, n- wait a minute! . . . Hold on a minute! I'm not saying that word."

"What word?"

"The N-word," Kyla said. "I'm not saying it."

Aiden frowned at her. "Kyla. I say it all the time. Jesus, they said it in Full Metal Jacket. Just sing."

"I don't care, I'm not saying it." She declared obstinately.

Ashley, who by all accounts couldn't bare to hear anymore of this that she already had, exclaimed, "Just say 'N-words' any time it comes up."

"Fine. Oh darn, where did I leave off...?" she continued. "Thanks to lames... `"N-word's" with bad aim, thanks to a little change... I tore you out the game... bullet wounds will stop your buffoonery... thanks to the pastor rapping at your eulogy... to Lil' Kim and them... you know the women friend who carry the weight `cross state for gentlemen... yeah, thanks to all the hustlers... but most important you, the customer...! The Roc Boy's in the building tonight...! Oh what a feeling I'm feeling life...! You ain't even gotta bring your paper out we the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house..."

"No, no, no, no." Aiden interrupted. "Don't do it like that. It's 'da' dope boys, not 'the' dope boys. Da not the. Da. Get it? Da."

She snarled at him, before continuing. "...`Da' Roc Boy's in the building tonight...! Look how I'm chillin,' I'm killing this ice...! You ain't even gotta bring your purses out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house... let your hair down baby... I just hit da score..."

"A score, not dascore." Corrected Aiden.

"Who's singing this damn song, me or you?!" He silenced himself before she continued, "...Pick any place on da planet... pick a shore... take what da Forbes figured... then figure more `cause they forgot to account for what I did with da raw... pick a time let's pick apart some stores... pick a weekend for freaking for figure fours... I figure fraud never hit a lick before... so they don't know da feeling when them things get across... put your hand out da window, feel da force... feel da Porsche... hit defrost... ice cold, jewels got no flaws... drop got no top... you on da top floor... pink rose-aye... think O.J... I get away with murder when I sling `ye... heron got less steps than Britney... that mean's it ain't stepped on, dig me..."

Then came the chorus again, by which time Carmen looked about ready to die. "...Da Roc Boy's in the building tonight...! Oh what a feeling I'm feeling life...! You ain't even gotta bring your paper out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house...! Da Roc Boy's in da building tonight...! Look how I'm chillin,' I'm killing this ice...! You ain't even gotta bring your purses out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house..."

Nicole looked away, wincing. "Oh God, make it stop."

"Rare Porsches," Kyla rapped. "Rare portraits... rare guns if you dare come near da fortress... this applesauce is from da apple orchard... this kind of talk is only reserved for da bosses... which means I get it from da ground... which means you get it when I'm around... rich "N-words",,, black bat mitzvahs... mazel tov, it's a celebration, bitches...! L'chayim...! I wish for you a hundred years of success but its my time...! Cheers...! Toast to crime...! Number one B-Boy, shame he could rhyme...! Da Roc Boy's in da building tonight...! Oh what a feeling I'm feeling life...! You ain't even gotta bring your paper out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house...! Da Roc Boy's in da building tonight...! Look how I'm chillin,' I'm killing this ice...! You ain't even gotta bring your purses out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house..."

Since the chorus repeated itself twice during the final stages of the song Kyla was forced to repeat it a second time. "...Da Roc Boy's in da building tonight...! Oh what a feeling I'm feeling life...! You ain't even gotta bring your paper out we da dope boys of the year, drinks is on da house...! Da Roc Boy's in da building tonight...! Look how I'm chillin,' I'm killing this ice...! You ain't even gotta bring your purses out we da dope boys of da year, drinks is on da house..."

"Sweet...!" Then came the final mantras, spoken in unsung, mimicked word and there was some kind of wolf-whistling sound before it was over. And when it was over, Aiden was holding his sides he was laughing so hard. They all gave her a little ovation for her efforts, though. While she sat down and tried not to feel too embarrassed, Carmen took up the CD player and American Gangster case to put them both back. She stepped out of the circle to do that, and when she came past a sobering Aiden she kneeled next to him so she could sharply whisper, "If it's my turn and I land on you, I'm totally gonna make you wear a bra." in his ear. For the next two hours that was the way they did things. They played this juvenile game with compunction and they challenged each other to stupid dares and revealing truths, getting laughs out of it, coming out of themselves and their shells, free from the pressures of school.

Spencer was the only one who didn't quite get into the spirit of things, but that was mainly because she kept herself outside of this fictional world where nothing seemed to matter as much as it did elsewhere. And it revealed some things to her. Like Kyla for instance. As said before, Spencer wasn't big on hip-hop so she had no idea how bad Kyla's attempt really was -- nor how brave she was to accept Aiden's challenge -- until Ashley made her listen to the actual song later on. Coming into this night Spencer wouldn't believe anyone who told her Kyla could do something like that, but she did, because she was in an environment of friends. Aiden was the same way. While he always seemed cheerful he was distant at school, probably one of the reasons it had taken so long for him and Nicole to get on the same wavelength, but here he was fully part of their union, making jokes with Ashley, bickering with and teasing his sister. Ashley herself was a surprise too. Spencer was half worried that the others wouldn't accept her, and while that was the case with Nicole, it certainly wasn't the case with everybody else. Aiden already knew her through Math class so there was no problem there. Carmen seemed to like her too. Eventually, Kyla warmed to her as well, especially after she had the guts to do that disgusting thing with the ketchup bottle. It made Spencer happy to know that her friends wouldn't reject Ashley... although she was disturbed by her best friend's instance on doing just that.

The night was an important one because, even though she sat on the outside observing all the festivities and stupidity, it was the first time she felt like a part of a group. Which was why it felt so weird overall that their little gathering ended on a calm, partially sour note for her. It was when Carmen finally spun the bottle. She didn't get her wish of landing on Aiden to pay him back for making Kyla rap, instead she got Spencer.

"Okay, Spencer. Truth or Dare?"

She didn't want to sing or drink sauce. "...Truth."

Everyone knew that she was reserved and fragile, so no one pushed her, which was probably why it seemed like such a soft question in Carmen's mind. "Truth, huh? Okay. What the worst date you've ever been on?"

There it was. Spencer blinked while everyone waited on tenterhooks to hear what she had to say. No one knew. No one had a clue. But what could Spencer do but play along and give her answer? "Well... uh... the truth is... I've never been out on a date before."

Everyone else went silent. Suddenly the atmosphere amongst the six of them became awkward. But she could see the thoughts in almost all of their faces. In two years time she'd be at college... and she hadn't had a date before? It boggled their minds. Nicole, who by all accounts had no idea about this, was equally as incredulous. "Is that true, Spencer? You've... never been out on a date?"

"Uh huh."

Carmen swiftly tried to shrug it off. "W-well, you know, it's not such a big deal, Spencer. You don't have to do anything until you're ready to."

She wasn't sure if it was even a case of 'readiness'. But whatever it was no one wanted to dwell on it, least of all Spencer, which was likely why no one noticed the guilty expression on Ashley's face. It was Nicole's turn to spin again after that but when she reached for the bottle the lights suddenly flickered on. The flat screen flashed to life just the same and after a brief pause it continued right from where they'd left off on Full Metal Jacket, the scene where Joker shoots the Vietnamese girl dead.

"The power's back on." Reflected Nicole.

Whatever the problem was someone had gotten around to fixing it. They decided to call it a day after that. Since it was late and there were two cars there Aiden and Ashley elected to drive Spencer, Carmen, and Nicole home, before their parents got worried. Since Nicole and Spencer lived on the same street they'd need to go in the same car. However because Nicole and Ashley weren't really getting along (in fact they were barely tolerating each other) Aiden was the one who drove them home while Ashley did so for Carmen. An arrangement that didn't give Ashley the chance to say something she wanted to say to Spencer before the night was through. Half an hour later Aiden's car was pulling up in the Milligan family driveway. They all said their goodbyes to each other, then Spencer and Nicole got out and returned to their respective houses, whilst Aiden drove off back to his place. Walking the cobblestones of her pathway though Spencer found herself silently pondering the whole `date' thing. It didn't make her happy.

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Sunday evening.

Underneath the wood of Spencer's computer desk something tapped the carpet repeatedly. That something was her left foot. It repeatedly struck the floor because for the life of her Spencer couldn't figure out what to write. She had to hand this preliminary assignment, if it could so be called, in to Miss Gilbertson tomorrow. A thousand words wasn't all that much so why was she having so much trouble finding a muse? She had no idea. All she had was a blank screen and a squelched set of ideas at the moment. It was strange because normally a muse just `came' to Spencer and she rolled with it. She didn't get that this time around. Instead she got a phone call. Her cell phone flashed with that jingle it did. Sighing, Spencer swiveled her chair around to take up the phone. It was Ashley.

"Hello?"

"It's me. You're parents are out for the night, right?"

Spencer stood up. "...Yeah, they're attending some kind of gala or something. Why?"

"Come to the door." That was all she said before she hung up.

She could hear giddiness in Ashley's voice. What was going on? Spencer hadn't a clue but she'd play ball anyway. At the moment she couldn't think of a single thing to type up for her Creative Writing class. Maybe spending some time with her girlfriend might change that. So Spencer fitted on her fluffy pink slippers and left her bedroom to pad downstairs, but when she opened that door and took in what lay beyond it, her eyes widened. That was because Ashley was standing there in a way Spencer had never seen of her before. The Italian girl was wearing a dress. A dress. A thinly strapped white dress that saw its end three quarters of the way down her lissome legs. Slipped onto her feet were a pair of white open-toed high-heels and dangling from her neck was a pendant, a silver neck chain possessing a sparkling sapphire stone. The outfit looked surprising majestic on her, especially considering that white was an entirely virginal color, and the simple fact remained; Ashley ain't no virgin. And when she came to someone's door looking THAT gorgeous it wasn't hard to see why. The way the midnight black of her hair mixed with the snow white of her dress made her look all the more intense too.

Spencer had no idea how fast her heart was beating. "Ashley...?"

"I don't look too stupid, do I?" She chuckled. "My Mom said I looked good in it but you know what Mom's are like."

"You look... beautiful..." Murmured Spencer, dreamily. "But... what... are you doing here? Dressed like that...?"

Ashley flushed then and Spencer abruptly noticed that she had her hands behind her back. "Uh, well... I've never liked a girl as much as I like you, so... I'm not really sure how you try and make these things special, uh... but you know what? I've seen plenty of Hugh Grant movies so... here it goes. I couldn't find you a bouquet, so..."

She pulled her left hand from her back and presented to Spencer a thorn-less, single stemmed red rose.

"I swiped it from one of your neighbor's gardens. And on top of everything else I have planned I couldn't afford to go out and buy you a box of gourmet Belgium chocolates, so..."

With her other hand she presented Spencer with a Kit-Kat. Spencer looked at both of them and then looked up at the girl who gave them to her. How sweet was she to do all this? "...Ashley..."

She grinned sheepishly. "...I know I'm being lame. I know I am. But I'm trying to start it out right, you know?"

"Start what out?" Asked Spencer.

"…Our first date."

PLEASE READ

I'm sure you all know that I didn't write this story I just changed characters. And to be honest with all of you this story isn't exactly finished, the last update was actually about eight months ago. I'm been trying to get a hold of Chris to see if he will continue, and the fact that he updated a different story only tells me that he probably won't continue and has forgotten about this story (allegedly). So I need your help to write the next chapter, any ideas or things you want Spencer and Ashley to do on their first date. And a little heads up I might make the next chapter the last chapter.